Micomsoft SC-500N1 RGB Capture Card

[blizzz]

The 360 (or any other consoles) output 720p60 (can be captured by the SC-500N1) or 1080p60 (can't be captured by the SC-500N1). You cannot force a console to output 1080p30.

Edit: And when I say 30 / 60 I mean 29.97 / 59.94.

[Stefan_L]

I was trying the highres mode of the Atari ST (640x400, 71.2hz) but Videokeepr does not detect the signal and AmarecTV is not showing all of the picture... is there any "magic" settings i can try in AmarecTV to get it to work? I guess this means old DOS VGA PC's don't work either as they are from what i know 70hz also.

I had to remove "YUY2" from the "Format" setup to get the picture showing at all.

[lettuce]

have u tried the underscan option?

[blizzz]

What resolution does the card detect? AmarecTV shows it in the bottom bar to the right, just where you cut off the screenshot.

[Stefan_L]

it is underscan.. i always use that option
And i have not cut off anything from the pic.

I did try many options last night but never got any better than seen in the pic i posted... it clearly has sync problem as not all of the ST screen can be seen. Since then so have i tried a old VGA 70hz PC DOS (320x200) setup and i get no picture no matter what options i choose I think the reason the Atari showed a picture at 70hz is becuase the resolution was close to 640x480 wich is a common setup and supported by sc-500n1.

Too bad as i wanted an option to record from old PC's without converting it to s-video or such

[Fudoh]

Too bad as i wanted an option to record from old PC's without converting it to s-video or such

friend of mine is recording DOS games with an Emotia. 400p70 to 240p60 in RGB.

[Stefan_L]

Has he posted any vidoes on youtube or such?

[Fudoh]

no, but I might have on my hard drive - I'll have a look. It looks pretty good. For static games (no scrolling) I would suggest 480i with a flicker filter instead.

[Stefan_L]

I have seen some "VGA to HDMI" converters.. maybe those work as well, the SC-500N1 has HDMI input afterall.

Meanwhile... i researched a bit more about VGA and it is not 320x200 as i said earlier it is using both "720x400, 70hz" and "640x480, 60hz".
The 70hz (720x400) don't work with SC-500N1 but the 60hz (640x480) works fine but not many games use it or use both like "Pinball Fantasies" wich has the menu in 640x480 and the ingame is in 720x400.

**edit** tested to change the ingame graphics to "normal" resolution in the game menu and it then played in 640x480 ingame also

Here is pics from the game.

[lettuce]

indeed, please use a powered one. 25 pounds is a bit steep, maybe something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Proxima-Direct% ... 15&sr=1-23

ebay will probably give you some 10 pound options.

Ok have got a HDMI powered splitter now and have had a few problems. I have the HDMI cable going from my Xbox into the input socket on the splitter and then from the splitter output 1 when to the HDMI socket on the capture card and the 2nd output went to my Sony A/V amp and from the amp to the TV. I noticed that I wasn't getting a display at all from my TV or the capture card when both devices were connected to the spliter, if I had either one plugged in on it's own then I would get a picture but not if both devices were plugged in. I narrowed this down to the 360 being in 1080p as soon as I changed it to 720p I got a picture!, which now brings me on to my next problem.

My amp is now only reporting I'm getting a 2.1 signal from the Xbox when I usually get a 5.1 DD signal. Is this because of the micomsoft/startech capture card only supporting a 2.1 audio source?, if so why is this effecting the amp, as it's a completely separate HDMI cable going from the splitter to my amp from the xbox?

[blizzz]

I guess it's because the splitter settles for the lowest common EDID, which in this case is 1080p from both devices (which is a problem of the SC-500N1 as it doesn't support 1080p60 but still has the EDID data for it) and stereo sound, again from the SC-500N1.

[lettuce]

Was there ever a definitive decision as to what drive was the best to use, Micomsoft's or StarTech's?

[BuckoA51]

I've always used the Neet branded HDMI splitters in my setup and not had any problems with EDID. I can't tell you why your amp is only reporting stereo, but I can tell you the capture card doesn't support Dolby Digital.

I think the best driver was Startech wasn't it? The Micomsoft one has problems with colours particularly on PAL content.

[lettuce]

I've always used the Neet branded HDMI splitters in my setup and not had any problems with EDID. I can't tell you why your amp is only reporting stereo, but I can tell you the capture card doesn't support Dolby Digital.

I think the best driver was Startech wasn't it? The Micomsoft one has problems with colours particularly on PAL content.

Yeah I'm guessing this is the cause as maybe the splitter detects that one device connected can only do 2.1 and this forces any other device connected to output the lowest common denominator??.

Are you saying your splitter never did this, did you use it with the capture card?

It's not a massive problem as I can use the digital audio input on the 360, just would have preferred to use just the one hdmi cable

[blizzz]

If the 360 would output 5.1 you wouldn't be able to record it. Your splitter does the correct thing.

[lettuce]

If the 360 would output 5.1 you wouldn't be able to record it. Your splitter does the correct thing.

Yeah but this is the thing, the capture card shouldnt be effecting the input to my amp though should it?, as the HDMI goes from the rear of the 360 into the splitter then output 1 goes straight into my amp, and obviously output 2 goes to the capture card. I dont see how the capture card effects what audio signal is getting feed to my amp???

[blizzz]

The capture cards causes the splitter to tell the 360 to use stereo. Both devices get the same signal.

[BuckoA51]

Are you saying your splitter never did this, did you use it with the capture card?

Yeah, when I split the signal the Xbox still output whatever it was told to on the dash, if you try to capture a HDMI signal with DD embedded, the PEXHDCAP will just record silence, like you I can't understand how the splitter is messing with the signal like that.

[lettuce]

Are you saying your splitter never did this, did you use it with the capture card?

Yeah, when I split the signal the Xbox still output whatever it was told to on the dash, if you try to capture a HDMI signal with DD embedded, the PEXHDCAP

This isnt the experience ive had, if i have only the 360 hooked up to the capture card via just the HDMI cable i get audio fine from the xbox over HDMI (and the 360 is set to 5.1 DD)

[BuckoA51]

That... is not possible... Can't understand how you got that result at all, the card has no DD5.1 decoder.

[lettuce]

That... is not possible... Can't understand how you got that result at all, the card has no DD5.1 decoder.

Im not sure then, but thats how i was using it up until i got the splitter.

I had the 360 connect straight to the Capture Card via HDMI, i then had a Digital Audio cable going from the 360 to my amp (so i got sound through my AMP) and then from my PC i sent AmaRec fullscreen to the 2nd display on my GPU which was hooked up to my LCD TV, so i could capture and play on my big screen at the same time. My Captures always had audio and never had a problem, thats how i kind of have it now, only 1 cable going from the splitter to the Capture card and thats a HDMI cable, captures both video and audio fine

[lettuce]

Can anyone tell me what usage there PC's CPU is at when loading up AmaRec program, i use Real Temp and its saying when ever AmaRec is in use that the CPU is at 100%!!!, but the status bar at the bottom of the AmaRec window reports only 21% cpu usage? Does anyone else get 100% cpu usage when using AmaRec?

I would have thought that as the StarTech/Micomsoft was a PCI device it should really use the PC CPU that much at all

[Ed Oscuro]

On the contrary, any bus interface device like that is designed for enabling more direct connections between device and the CPU. It's just pushing a lot of data through in this case, most likely.

I was trying to set up some full-screen (1920x1200) capture earlier and I dare say the system was a bit jittery for the moments while it was encoding the resulting short videos.

[lettuce]

But I'm noticing 100% CPU usage just with amarec open and not even capturing anything, surely if AmaRec is just open and only showing (not capturing) the display of what ever you have hooked up to the card wouldn't warranty 100% CPU usage?

[Ed Oscuro]

Depends, but unless you have a really old PC I wouldn't expect simple capture of a classic computer resolution to cause this.

Did you confirm that it happens when the program is open but not capturing (I don't mean recording) a screen?

[shinjig]

Quick question regarding the din8 out on the xsync. Does it output audio at all. Pin 3 is something with AV, is that for AV switching? Or should I just open up the xsync and route the audio out through the 3.5mm stereo out to the unused Pin 2?

[Fudoh]

Does it output audio at all

no, it does not.

[lettuce]

Depends, but unless you have a really old PC I wouldn't expect simple capture of a classic computer resolution to cause this.

Did you confirm that it happens when the program is open but not capturing (I don't mean recording) a screen?

Well i have an i7 920 CPU OC to 4Ghz, so its not an old machine .

I have taken a quick vid showing the cpu usage ramp up when opening AmaRec, remember this is just opening the program its not even capturing anything just displaying....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmMhopSt ... e=youtu.be

[BuckoA51]

Not seeing anything like that on this Windows 7 rig here. Amarec just sits at 0% CPU usage when not capturing.

[BuckoA51]

Sorry if this has been asked but, did anyone try the August 31, 2012 drivers that Micomsoft put up on their website?